How to Cut and Pan Fry Paneer Cheese

Edward Hammond: Hello, I am Edward Hammond and we are here at Sur La Table Cooking School in Arlington, Virginia. Today we are making Palak Paneer, fresh Indian cheese and spinach. Our cheese is finished pressing and now we need to unwrap it from the cheesecloth, and we are going to cut it into cubes that are about one inch. First, I am going to just have the cheese dry a bit with paper towels. With a short knife, cut the cheese into one-inch pieces. They don't need to be perfectly shaped. They can be a little bit odd sized. I think it adds to the character of the dish. Now we are going to pan-fry our paneer cheese cubes.

We will start by adding one tablespoon of our ghee to a nonstick skillet. Ghee is Indian clarified butter and it’s available widely at supermarkets, Indian grocery stores and at health food stores. When the ghee is hot, we will add our paneer cheese cubes. And then with a slotted spoon, we will turn paneer cheese cubes in the hot ghee just until they light golden-brown. They don't need to browned evenly and they also do not need to be browned on all sides. Pan-frying the paneer helps it to hold its shape once we add it to our finished dish and it also makes it taste delicious. When the paneer is finished pan-frying, transfer it with the slotted spoon to a plate or a bowl and set aside until needed.

In our next clip, I am going to fry our onions, garlic, ginger, chillies, spices and cook our spinach.

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